The Third Grade Reading Guarantee
Budget Bill Changes to the Third Grade Reading Guarantee 2023-2024
House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly included several legislative changes to the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Information about the most significant changes to the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is available below.
PROMOTION OF 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR THIRD GRADE STUDENTS
Under House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly, any district, community school, STEM school or chartered nonpublic school that would have retained students who did not meet the promotion score on Ohio’s State Test for grade 3 English language arts during the 2022-2023 school year must promote those students to fourth grade unless a student’s parent or guardian requests otherwise.
Students promoted to fourth grade must continue to receive at least 90 minutes of daily reading instruction that includes intensive intervention until the student is able to read at grade level.
2023-2024 THIRD GRADE READING GUARANTEE PROMOTION SCORE
State law requires the State Board of Education to annually increase the promotion score on Ohio’s State Test for grade 3 English language arts until it reaches proficient for the 2024-2025 school year. Accordingly, the State Board voted to raise the promotion score for grade 3 English language arts to 690 for the 2023-2024 school year. Any student who scores 690 or higher on the English language arts scaled score will be eligible for promotion to fourth grade at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
In addition, the Ohio Department of Education has set the reading subscore alternative assessment score for Ohio’s State Test for grade 3 English language arts at 48 for the 2023-2024 school year. Any student who scores 48 or higher on the reading subscore will be eligible for promotion to fourth grade at the end of the 2023-2024 school year, even if the student scores below 690 on Ohio’s State Test for grade 3 English language arts.
CHANGES BEGINNING IN 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR
Parent Request Exemption
Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, a student’s parent or guardian, in consultation with the student’s reading teacher and principal, may request that a student be promoted to fourth grade regardless of the student’s score on Ohio’s State Test for grade 3 English language arts.
Students promoted to fourth grade through this exemption must continue to receive intensive reading instruction until the student is able to read at grade level.